Issa: Congress Didn’t Pick Fight over Fast and Furious

The standoff between Congress and the administration over the bungled Fast and Furious gun-running operation is “not a fight we want,” Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“There is a standoff, but it’s not something we aim to have,” said Issa, whose committee recommended on Wednesday that Attorney General Eric Holder be held in contempt of Congress because of “a lie” and “a coverup.”

Fast and Furious, a law-enforcement operation that allowed U.S. weapons to be illegally purchased in Mexico in an effort to track drug cartels, resulted in the death of two U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has demanded detailed documents of the operation and believes Holder is withholding the information.

The controversy goes next to the full House, which is to vote this week unless there is some resolution in the meantime.

The committee vote followed a decision by President Barack Obama earlier in the day to assert executive privilege for the first time in his administration in order to protect the confidentiality of the documents.

“It’s not a fight we want,” insisted Issa. “It’s not what we want to be on. Yes, we want to be on jobs and the economy. Some fights you pick. This wasn’t one. Some fights come to you, and you have to do what you have to do.”